


dancing at one a.m

by eruukat



Series: time flies like moonlight [3]
Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Completely fluff, F/M, and the name has stuck, i called them the shota squad as a running joke when i was 12, i couldnt think of a replacement name so im sorry theyre called that here lol, to refer to oliver len piko and lui's friend group, warning for the word shota being mentioned only once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:28:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28284741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eruukat/pseuds/eruukat
Summary: flower and lui stay up late hanging out, and flower feels so, so lucky to be here.
Relationships: Hibiki Lui/Flower
Series: time flies like moonlight [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1792513





	dancing at one a.m

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't stated in the fic so i would like to say it here: i like to imagine flower is really fucking tall and lui's shorter than her. i also like the idea of bi femboy lui x bi masc goth girl flower but u dont have to imagine that
> 
> some context that isnt necessary but might help:  
> \- flower mentions being scared of feeling numb bc thats a huge part of how her depression affects her and her emotions  
> \- tohoku zunko is mentioned bc shes one of flower's roommates  
> \- lui makes a joke abt stealing pikos mans and pikos man's mans bc he used to have a crush on piko.. but lui never told him, so piko wound up with yuuma -> lui was hurt by that for a while  
> \- but as he and flower mention hes gotten over it by this point and he's ok !!

flower and lui are dancing around in her dorm again, blasting a frankly bizarre mix of bright jpop and edgy jrock. it's probably one am by this point, and distantly in the back of her mind, flower feels bad for her roommates downstairs. lui is air-guitaring with his whole heart, to the point where he's slid onto the floor so hard that flower's sure he's got rug burn on his knees and she can't stop laughing.

distantly, she also reminds herself that she'll be sad in the morning and exhausted through her classes and her depression is very much still here. but around lui, things always seem a little brighter, and she knows they'll dance together again very soon, so she'll at least have something immediate to look forward to.

she takes his hand without warning and he spins under it without even having to ask; he then lifts his arm and she spins back, and they're both smiling and they both have the giggles and keep laughing at everything, and they probably look so, so stupid.

she's so happy.

flower flops backwards onto her bed, going limp mid-flop so that she hits the blankets with a solid _thwump_. lui takes the phone and tells her he finally learned the whole dance to kimagure mercy. does she want to watch?

of course she does. she wouldn't miss it for the world. she can't form the words though, mostly because she's still trying to catch her breath, so she throws him a thumbs up. he's beaming even harder than before, and she zones out a little as he keeps dancing. if only she didn't have so little energy; it'd be cool to learn some choreos herself. maybe she'll have to ask? there's a lot she'd like to learn, and flower thinks she'd try anything if lui would join in with her.

lui has a few more songs in him before he gives up and flops face down on the bed next to flower.

for a while, they both lay there quietly. the room seems a lot emptier without any music to fill it, but the yellowed dorm lights suddenly seem to fill her senses anyway, so she supposes it evens out. is it weird that she's still breathing loudly even though she's been resting for about fifteen minutes? oh well. she doubts lui cares.

he peeks an eye out over the fold of blanket his face is in, and she gives a poker faced wink back in return. he giggles way too hard at that--yup, he definitely has the giggles tonight--and she finds herself smiling again. god, his smile is so cute, and she kind of loves that he's not afraid to snort while he laughs around her. she's never seen him laugh like that around piko or oliver, and it makes her feel faintly special in a way she's not used to feeling around others.

as soon as his face is fully visible again, she taps the tip of her fingernail against his nose. "boop,"

"boop. hey, did you get acrylics again?"

"yeah, i missed tapping things."

"oh, lemme see."

she holds her hand out, palm facing away from the two of them, and he gasps a little.

"you got glitter this time!!"

he sits up to take her hand, slowly moving it around and watching the light change the colors around. she can't see his expression, but she doesn't have the energy to sit up, and she's seen his captivated expression enough that she can imagine it, especially in the delicate way he's holding her hand.

"why haven't you gotten acrylics yet?" she asks.

"i'm already annoying, having shiny clacky nails would be way too much power. also i'd stab my ass trying to wipe it," he adds bluntly.

"i've never stabbed my ass."

"not all of us are as stab-proof as you are. how do i know my knuckles would bend like that? i think they'd just snap. even if they didn't, piko would probably snap them himself."

"he's in the bathroom with you?" she asks flatly.

"no! he's pissed because i'm annoying and have acrylics and that means i'm too powerful. i'd take his mans AND his man's mans. actually, no i wouldn't, i don't want yuuma's mans anymore, i'm just joking."

"i know." they've talked about it a lot and flower's pretty proud of his progress, actually. a few jokes here and there about the whole incident is probably a good sign anyway.

no one talks for a bit, and lui eventually sets her hand back on the mattress by her side. then he quietly says, "hey... i know i've said thank you before, but really. thank you for letting me vent about them a lot."

"it's not a problem."

"i care about you a lot," he continues, "and i'm so glad we met because of shota squad and started talking from there and everything. really, you've helped me a lot and everything's so much easier with you around. i just think you're really cool?"

"you don't sound too sure about that last part." she teases. it sounds really flat in her voice, but he'll know she's joking.

"as i was saying it, i realized it sounds like something new friends would say, not the sort of thing you'd say to someone you've known for what, five years?"

"oh. wow. you're right. five years...."

"and you've been mega cool for all five of those years. even if we've only been close for a year or two."

"that's okay. we have plenty of time in the future." she says. she's kind of surprised hearing something like that from her own mouth. she didn't realize she felt like she had a future by this point, but looking at lui, maybe she doesn't have to be limited to the short term anymore. it doesn't feel wrong to say something like that, anyway.

lui turns to catch her eye and he smiles again, fully and with his eyes narrowing happily. "yeah, we do." 

she blindly taps the bed by her hand for a second before she finds his hand, takes it, and gives it a gentle squeeze. he squeezes back and she briefly lets go so they can properly lace their fingers together, and they stay like that, holding hands under the intensely dull glow of the light fixture, with flower studying the weird firework bursts of texture in the ceiling paint. she always expects to feel butterflies or blushy while holding his hand, but it's so natural she's worried it's the numbness kicking in, or maybe she just sees him as a friend after all? but it's nice and his hand is warm and soft and she's so happy to be here. she's present and there's no point in worrying about it if she's happy to be here with him.

"whatcha thinkin' about?" lui asks quietly.

"just zoning out. midnight intrusive thoughts."

"do you want to talk about it?"

"nah. i know it's irrational. they won't bother me in the morning."

"okay. just let me know," he murmurs, and he gives another gentle squeeze of her hand to remind her he's there. "we should probably go to sleep."

"mmm. probably.... i can't get up." 

"you have lipstick on, you have to get up."

"no i don't. you can bring me the makeup wipes."

lui sighs dramatically and lets go of her hand to disappear into the bathroom, sticking his tongue out pointedly. "okay, [i]fine[/i]..."

he returns with a single wipe pinched between the tips of his fingers, like he's someone's mom and he's just picked up a particularly gross sock off of the floor. "here you go, queen," he laughs, dropping it over the approximate area of her face. it falls damply by her ear, and she finally sits up, letting the makeup wipe slip off her shoulder and onto the blankets.

"lui, come here."

"what?"

once he's close enough, she puts a hand on each of his cheeks, pulling him closer to press tiny kisses all over his forehead.

"god, why'd you have to go with the glossy lipstick? it's so weird," he laughs. 

she leans back to admire her handiwork and snorts a little, looking away since she can't cover her mouth with her fist like she usually would. his forehead is covered with sheer black blotches and it's frankly disgusting. she'd take a picture, but her phone's across the room, so she reaches behind her to pick up the makeup wipe again and rub it across his forehead a little bit harder than strictly necessary.

"augh, it's cold!" lui shivers, but he still seems amused, so she doesn't stop.

"good."

"is it coming off?"

it's smearing around, but yes. "no," she responds immediately.

"am i gonna permanently have forehead smears??" he squeaks.

"absolutely."

"dammit, and we're not even matching. where's your lipstick?"

his forehead is pink, but lipstick free, so she stops and raises a finger to her lips. "that's our sexy little secret," she deadpans.

"it's not OUR sexy little secret if i don't know!!" he protests loudly. 

"shhh, zunko's downstairs."

"oh. sorry. it's not our sexy little secret if i don't know," he repeats in a whisper.

"i heard."

he tugs the makeup wipe out of her hand and uses his thumb to drag it across her lips once. "there! revenge."

"oh nooooo. now my black lip is blotchy. what will i dooooo."

"this is what you get for permanently dying my face!"

"but it's gone now."

"you're lying, how do i know?"

"feel your face."

he smacks his forehead and moves his hand around a few times, frowning absently at the ceiling the whole time as if that'll help him see himself any clearer. or at all. "okay _fine_ , maybe you do have rights."

"thank you, lui."

"you're welcome." he doesn't give the makeup remover back, and instead holds her face with one hand so he can keep his hands stable and help her remove her lipstick with his other hand. it feels kinda wet and gross, but the sentiment is weirdly sweet and intimate and she can't stop staring at his eyes, even though he's busy making sure her lipstick actually wipes off.

as soon as he's finished, he folds the tissue in half, and she closes her eyes so he can start wiping off her eyeshadow. 

"you were right, it is pretty cold." she admits.

"right? i told you so. you should've listened."

"well, it's not like you can warm up a makeup wipe," flower says. "it'd probably explode in the microwave, so don't."

"dammit." he mutters under his breath. "foiled again." he folds the wipe one last time to swipe it across her eyelids just in case, then: "open."

she opens her eyes to see lui frowning and looking over her face. "okay, it's all gone." he kisses her forehead and disappears again to toss it in the trash and turn the lights off. she flops back onto the bed exactly where she was before, and once he turns around, he snickers and asks, "you're gonna stay at the foot of the bed?"

"maybe."

"how'm i supposed to cuddle you if you're all the way over there?"

"i dunno."

"you're being very stubborn tonight. i didn't know you had it in you to be annoying," he teases, pulling the covers aside to climb in and shimmy his legs around until he gets into a comfy enough position. he nudges at her shoulder with what is probably his foot, so she rolls over and slowly begins inching towards the top of the bed so she can get under the covers too.

"that's very hypocritical of you considering i had to drag you up all of the flights of stairs once."

she opens her arms and he immediately hugs her back and rests his head in the crook of her neck.

he mumbles something along the lines of, "yeah, yeah, go to sleep.", and she mumbles back, "alright, mr kimagure mercy. you're sweaty."

"oh. sorry. do i stink?"

"it's not that bad, you just need to shower in the morning."

"okay. good night again."

"goodnight."

he listens to her steady heartbeat as they drift off to sleep.

they still have the same intrusive, persistent thoughts they always struggle with at night, but it's easier with lui's head on her chest and her fingers in his hair, and his arms around her waist. they're okay.

they're really okay.

**Author's Note:**

> flower and lui are really close friends in my main vocaloid au (time flies like moonlight) but unfortunately i have chronic "best friends to lovers" disease so the platonic oneshot turned more romantic. even though i put this in the same list, this oneshot is not necessarily canon, and would work standalone and/or for other au's tbh. anyways i think theyre cute <3 that is all


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